LATER  POEMS 


953 


IC-NRLF 


MS    075 


JOHN 

BAN  ISTER 


LATER  POEMS  BY  J.  B.  TABB 


LATER  POEMS 
BY  JOHN  B:f  ABB 


NEW  YORK 

MITCHELL  KENNERLEY 
MCMX 


r 


To  M.  A.  C. 

to  whom 
My  Right  Reverend  Father  in  Christ 

the  late 

Bishop  Alfred  A.  Curtis,  D.D. 
commended  his  son 


M204788 


THE  CONTENTS 


CHRIST    and  the 
V_><  Pagan        page  n 

The  Good  Thief  13 
Christ  to  Dumb 

Creatures  14 

AdBestias  15 

Moments  16 

Loneliness  1 7 

Abashed  18 

Christmas  1 9 
The  Babe  to  the 

Gift-Bearer  2O 

Speculum  Amoris  21 
The  Breeze  at 

Bethlehem  22 

Prisoner's  Base  23 

At  the  Manger  24 

Epiphany  25 
Christ  and  the 

Winds  26 

In  Extremis  27 


Holy  Saturday  28 
Brother  Ass  and 

St  Francis  29 

Nature  31 

Helplessness  32 

The  Vigil  33 

My  Portion  34 

Beatitude  35 

My  Neighbour  36 

O'ercome  37 

Beauty  38 

The  Voyager  39 

Deprecation  40 

At  the  Ebb-tide  41 

In  Sternum  42 
The  Stroke  of  the 

Hour  43 

Loss  44 

Initiated  45 

The  Lute  Player  46 

Departure  47 


7 


To  the  Wheatfield  59 

The  Forfeiture  60 

Heredity  61 

The  Birthday  62 

Sicut  in  Principio  63 

Memory  64 

Racers  65 

Noche  Triste  66 

Consolation  67 

Unigenitus  68 

A  Wind-call  69 


70 

71 
72 

73 

74 
75 
76 

77 


THE  CONTENTS 
Dejeftion          page  48      Withdrawn 
Song  49      Wrinkles 

Nomads  50      Death 

Finis  5 1      In  Autumn 

QuoVadis?  52      The  Breeze 

Leaves  54     Fulfilled 

Vidims  55      Love  Immortal 

F°g  56      Winter  Rain 

Nightfall  57      The  Star  to  the 

Cliffs  58  Watcher  78 

Harbours  79 

St  Mary  of  Egypt  80 
Life's  Gulf  Stream  82 
The  Life-Giver  83 
Revisited  84 

Inscriptions  85 

The  Grave-Digger  86 
Our  Secret  87 

The  Old  Year's 

Blessing  88 

The  Test  89 


8 


THE 

Our  Soul's  Quest  p 

To  an  Amateur 

Hidden 

The  Dawn  Star 

Neighbour 

Tears 

Two  Easter  Lilies 

Animula  Vaga 

Influences 

At  the  Last 

The  Dial 

Breakers 


CONTENTS 

.90 

Her  Pilot 

102 

91 

Survival 

103 

92 

Fiat  Lux 

106 

93 

Going  Blind 

107 

94 

Blind 

108 

95 

Mammy 

109 

96 

In  Blindness 

no 

97 

In  Tenebris 

III 

98 

Proximity 

112 

99 

Benighted 

H3 

TOO 

Our  Stars 

114 

IOI 

The  Smiter 

H5 

LATER  POEMS 


CHRIST  AND  THE  PAGAN 

I  HAD  no  God  but  these, 
The  sacerdotal  Trees, 
And  they  uplifted  me. 
"I hung upon^a  Tree" 

The  sun  and  moon  I  saw, 
And  reverential  awe 
Subdued  me  day  and  night. 
"  /  am  the  perfect  Light" 

Within  a  lifeless  Stone — 
All  other  gods  unknown — 
I  sought  Divinity. 
"  The  Corner-Stone  am  I." 


II 


For  sacrificial  feast 
I  slaughtered  man  and  beast, 
Red  recompense  to  gain. 
"  So  /,  a  Lamby  was  slain. 

"  Tea',  such  My  hungering  Grace 
That  wheresoever  My  face 
Is  hidden ,  none  may  grope 
Beyond  eternal  Hope" 


12 


I 


THE  GOOD  THIEF 

F  thou,  like  Zacheus,  wouldst  see 
Thy  Lord  and  Master,  climb  the  tree, 
And  for  His  passing  wait  with  me. 

Here,  nearer  to  its  native  skies, 
No. intervening  darkness  lies 
Between  the  soul  and  Paradise. 

Was  ever  mortal  penance  brier 
As  mine?  A  moment  of  belief — 
Turnkey  of  Heaven,  beware — a  thief! 


CHRIST  TO  DUMB  CREATURES 

FOR  man  or  for  your  fellows  die, 
Ye  bleeding  victims,  e'en  as  I 
The  life  they  spare  not  freely  give 
That  in  Me  all  again  may  live. 
The  lamb,  the  fish,  I  fed  upon 
With  my  Humanity  are  one. 


AD  BESTIAS 

YE  have  the  power  to  lift  us  higher. 
The  Prodigal  among  the  swine 
Refound  the  pearl  cast  forth  in  mire, 
The  wisdom  lost  in  wine. 

And  he,  the  outcast  of  the  East — 
The  lord  of  luxury,  discrowned — 

Again  the  dawn  of  reason  found 
In  darkness  of  the  beast. 

Aye,  when  a  Babe  He  laid  Him  down 
Among  the  beasts  in  Bethlehem, 

Of  brutal  power  He  gave  to  them 
To  forge  the  Martyr's  crown. 


MOMENTS 

E^E  the  manna,  mute  as  snow, 
Swift  the  Moments  come  &  go, 
Each  sufficient  for  the  needs 
Of  the  multitude  it  feeds; 
One  to  all,  and  all  to  one, 
Superfluity  to  none, 
Ever  dying  but  to  give 
Life  whereon  alone  we  live. 


16 


LONELINESS 

1WALK  beside  a  lonely  lake 
Where,  ere  thy  natal  day, 
I  loved  for  contemplation's  sake 
At  eventide  to  stray. 

The  mist,  rewakened  from  the  wave, 

Enfolds  me  as  before, 
But  from  thy  solitary  grave 

Thou  comest  now  no  more. 


17  B2 


ABASHED 

THE  cock  crows; &  behold  the  hidden  Day — 
The  thrice-denied — appears, 
And  Darkness,  conscience-stricken, steals  away 
His  face  bedewed  with  tears. 


18 


CHRISTMAS 

THE  world  His  cradle  is; 
The  stars  His  worshippers; 
His  "place  on  earth,"  the  mother's  kiss 
On  lips  new  pressed  to  hers. 

For  she  alone  to  Him 

In  perfect  light  appears, 
The  one  horizon  never  dim 

With  penitential  tears. 


THE  BABE  TO  THE  GIFT-BEARER 

1  CANNOT  hold  within  My  hands 
Thy  gift,  but  here  My  mother  stands 

To  take  it  as  My  own. 
It  is  thro'  her  I  come  to  thee, 
And  now  our  go-between  is  she 
Till  I  am  older  grown. 


20 


SPECULUM  AMORIS 

MY  GOD  the  Baby  is 
That  rests  upon  my  knee. 
Into  those  eyes  of  His 

I  gaze  mine  own  to  see. 
And  He  looks  up  to  meet  in  mine 
Reflected  all  the  love  Divine. 

A  Maid  my  mother  is: 

AndlasirelessSon. 
No  other  deed  like  this 

Has  Love  eternal  done — 
To  make  her  motherhood  for  Me 
The  mirror  of  Divinity. 


21 


THE  BREEZE  AT  BETHLEHEM 

1THAT  have  lashed  the  sea 
And  from  the  forest  torn  the  rooted  tree. 
Come  now,  my  passion  spent, 
A  lowly  penitent, 
Sweet  Child,  to  Thee. 

Alike  Thy  sovereign  will 
The  strong  &  weak,  O  slumbering  Babe,  fulfil. 
As  I  before  Thee  now 
Shall  waves  submissive  bow, 
And  storms  be  still. 


22 


T 


PRISONER'S  BASE 

HO'  Almighty,  far  from  me, 
Little  Babe,  you  cannot  be; 
If  perchance  you  get  away, 
Back  you  come  on  Christmas-day, 
And  we  children  hold  you  here 
In  our  hearts,  a  Prisoner. 


AT  THE  MANGER 

WHEN  first  her  Christmas  watch  to  keep 
Came  down  the  silent  angel,  Sleep, 
With  snowy  sandals  shod, 
Beholding  what  His  mother's  hands 
Had  wrought,  with  softer  swaddling-bands 
She  swathed  the  Son  of  God. 

Then  skilled  in  mysteries  of  night, 
With  tender  visions  of  delight 

She  wreathed  His  resting  place, 
Till  wakened  by  a  warmer  glow 
Than  heaven  itself  had  yet  to  show, 

He  saw  His  mother's  face. 


24 


EPIPHANY 

REASON,  have  done! 
Ofthee  I'll  none 
While  face  to  face  I  see  the  sun. 

Be  thine  the  ray 
To  point  the  way 
In  darkness:  but,  behold,  'tis  day. 

Should  faith  divine 
Forbear  to  shine, 
Again  I'll  place  my  hand  in  thine. 

For  in  thy  sight 

To  walk  aright 

Is  prelude  to  the  perfect  light. 


CHRIST  AND  THE  WINDS 

FROM  Bethlehem  to  Calvary, 
By  night  and  day,  by  land  and  sea, 
His  closest  followers  were  we. 

We  soothed  Him  on  His  mother's  breast; 
We  shared  with  John  the  place  of  rest; 
With  Magdalen  His  feet  we  pressed. 

We  saw  His  twilight  agony; 

To  us  He  breathed  His  latest  sigh; 

With  us  He  sought  again  the  sky. 

And  now  of  all  to  whom  His  tone, 
His  face  and  gesture  once  were  known, 
We,  wanderers,  remain  alone. 


26 


L 


IN  EXTREMIS 
ORD,  as  from  Thy  body  bleeding, 
Wave  by  wave  is  life  receding 

From  these  limbs  of  mine: 
As  it  drifts  away  from  me 

To  the  everlasting  sea, 
Blend  it,  Lord,  with  Thine. 


HOLY  SATURDAY 

O  EARTH,  who  daily  kissed  His  feet 
Like  lowly  Magdalen, — how  sweet 
(As  oft  His  mother  used)  to  keep 
The  silent  watches  of  His  sleep, 
Till  love  demands  the  Prisoner, 
And  Death  replies,  "He  is  not  here. 
He  passed  my  portal,  where,  afraid, 
My  footsteps  faltered  to  invade 
The  region  that  beyond  me  lies: 
Then,  ere  the  dawn,  I  saw  Him  rise 
In  glory  that  dispelled  my  gloom 
And  made  a  Temple  of  the  Tomb." 


28 


BROTHER  ASS  AND  ST.  FRANCIS 
T  came  to  pass 


I 


That  "Brother  Ass" 
(As  he  his  Body  named,) 
Unto  the  Saint 
Thus  made  complaint: 
"  I  am  unjustly  blamed. 

"Whate'erldo, 
Like  Balaam  you 

Requite  me  with  a  blow, 
As  for  offence 
To  recompense 

An  ignominious  foe. 

"  God  made  us  one, 
And  I  have  done 

No  wickedness  alone; 
Nor  can  I  do 
Apart,  as  you, 

An  evil  all  my  own. 

29 


"If  Passion  stir, 
'Tis  you  that  spur 

My  frenzy  to  the  goal: 
Then  be  the  blame 
Where  sits  the  shame, 

Upon  the  goading  soul. 

"  Should  one  or  both 
Be  blind  or  loth 

Our  brotherhood  to  see, 
Remember  this, 
You  needs  must  miss 

Or  enter  heaven  through  me" 

To  this  complaint 

The  lowly  saint 
In  tears  replied,  "Alas, 

If  so  it  be, 

God  punish  me 
And  bless  thee,  Brother  Ass." 


NATURE 

IT  is  His  garment;  and  to  them 
Who  touch  in  faith  its  utmost  hem 
He,  turning,  says  again,  "  I  see 
That  virtue  hath  gone  out  of  me." 


HELPLESSNESS 

IN  patience  as  in  labour  must  thou  be 
A  follower  of  Me, 

Whose  hands  &  feet,  when  most  I  wrought  for  thee, 
Were  nailed  unto  a  tree. 


THE  VIGIL 

for  me  here  " — Ah,  well  doth  Love  obey 
Thy  mandate:  for  the  stars  have  burnt  away 
The  web  of  darkness,  &  disrobe  the  day 
In  twilight  chill. 

"Stay  for  me  here" — I  cannot  choose  but  wait. 
The  day  is  spent:  &  at  the  ponderous  gate 
Of  sunset,  still  I  linger  desolate. — 
Was  this  thy  will? 

"  Stay  for  me  here  " — An  echo  in  the  gloom 
Of  midnight  warns  me  of  approaching  doom. 
As  at  the  temple,  so  before  the  tomb, 
I  wait  thee  still. 


33 


MY  PORTION 

1KNOW  not  what  a  day  may  bring; 
For  now  'tis  Sorrow  that  I  sing, 

And  now  'tis  Joy. 
In  both  a  Father's  hand  I  see; 
For  one  renews  the  Man  in  me, 
And  one  the  Boy. 


34 


BEATITUDE 

AND  is  it  well  with  thee? 
Ay,  past  all  dreaming,  well ! 

For  here  we  dwell 

Where  none  may  weep, 
And  Paradise  is  ours  again  to  keep — 
The  tree  of  knowledge  in  the  midst  thereof. 

Time-ripened  love — 
The  leaves  no  more  for  healing,  but  for  food 

Of  lite  renewed, 
Fresh  with  the  dew,  from  vanished  faith  distilled, 

Of  hope  fulfilled. 

All  round  us  angels  be 

To  guard  the  gateways,  not  with  sword  of  flame, 
But  fragrant  breathings  of  the  holy  Name, 
That  never  more  an  after  thought  of  sin 

May  enter  in. 


35 


MY  NEIGHBOUR 

MY  neighbour  as  myself  to  love, 
Thou  hast  commanded  me, 
And  in  obedience  I  prove 
That  Thou  Thyself  art  he. 


I 


O'ERCOME 

PAUSE  for  tears.  But  thou,  my  lute, 
Why  art  thou,  like  thy  master,  mute? 
Hath  harmony  within  thee  bred 
The  hope  thou  hast  interpreted? 

Nay;  if  thou  falter,  Love  may  deem 
Our  passion  but  an  idle  dream. 
Speak  then,  my  lute,  that  all  may  hear 
How  silence  holds  me  prisoner. 


37 


BEAUTY 

!HE  sleeps — her  hiding-place  unknown 
To  other  worshippers, 
Till  Art,  her  lover,  comes  alone 
To  press  his  lips  to  hers. 


THE  VOYAGER 

FAR  inland,  where  the  sea, 
Throughout  the  day, 
Lives  but  in  memory — 

From  twilight  gray 
As  foamless  tides  of  sleep 
Their  heights  attain — 
Back  to  the  distant  deep 
I  drift  again; 

And,  as  of  old,  a  boy 

Seem  I  to  be, 
With  Innocence  and  Joy 

Afloat  with  me, 
Till,  all  too  soon,  the  star 

Of  Morn  appears, 
And  on  the  slumber-bar 

We  part  in  tears. 


39 


DEPRECATION 

LOW,  I  listen  in  my  grave 
For  the  silence  soon  to  be 
When  a  slow-receding  wave, 
Hushed,  is  memory. 

Now  the  falling  of  a  tear 

Or  the  breathing  half-suppressed 
Of  a  sigh,  re-echoed  here, 

Holds  me  from  my  rest. 

O,  ye  breakers  of  the  past 

From  the  never-resting  deep, 

On  the  coast  of  slumber  cast, 
Cease,  and  let  me  sleep. 


40 


AT  THE  EBB-TIDE 

O  MARSHES  that  remain 
In  anguish  dumb 
Till  over  you  again 
The  waters  come ! 

So  must  thy  life  abide 

In  silent  pain, 
Till  Love,  the  truant  tide, 

Come  back  again. 


IN  STERNUM 

IF  Life  and  Death  be  things  that  seem, 
If  Death  be  sleep,  and  Life  a  dream, 
May  not  the  everlasting  sleep 
The  dream  of  life  eternal  keep  ? 


42 


THE  STROKE  OF  THE  HOUR 

IF  I  were  dead,  and  yonder  chime 
Retold  the  fairy-tale  of  Time, 
At  distance  I  perchance  might  hear, 
And  half  in  pity,  half  in  fear, 
Perceive  the  future  life  to  be 
But  an  immortal  Memory. 


43 


LOSS 

FOR  one  extinguished  light 
Of  Love,  all  heaven  is  night; 
For  one  frail  flower  the  less, 
The  world  a  wilderness. 


44 


T 


INITIATED 

HOU  hast  put  on  the  livery, 
And  learned  the  shibboleth, 
And  pledged  for  all  eternity 
The  brotherhood  of  Death. 

Yet  to  thy  wonder-wakened  eyes 
The  light,  however  clear, 

But  solves  the  deeper  mysteries 
That  lay  about  thee  here. 


45 


THE  LUTE-PLAYER 

HE  touched  the  strings;  &  lo,  the  strain- 
As  waters  dimple  to  the  rain — 
Spontaneous  rose  and  fell  again. 

In  swaddling  clothes  or  silence  bound, 

His  genius  a  soul  hadTound, 
And  wakened  it  to  light  and  sound. 


DEPARTURE 

O  now  thy  way,  but  whereso'er  thou  art, 

If  sick  again  for  home, 
Know  that  the  place  forsaken  in  my  heart 
Is  vacant  till  thou  come.1 


G 


47 


T 


DEJECTION 

HE  sun  is  gone;  &  the  forsaken  sea — 

Her  glance  a  tear 
Wherein  all  depths  of  tenderness  appear — 

Looks  back  at  me, 
Where  I  upon  the  strand, 
The  centre  of  the  lone  horizon,  stand 

Forlorn  as  she, 
To  know  that  when  her  darkness  drifts  away 

Mine  own  must  stay. 


SONG 

FADE  not  yet,  O  summer  day, 
For  my  love  hath  answered  yea. 
Keep  us  from  the  coming  night, 
Lest  our  blossom  suffer  blight. 

Fear  thou  not:  if  love  be  true, 
Closer  will  it  cleave  to  you; 
'Tis  the  darkened  hours  that  prove 
Faith  or  faithlessness  in  Love. 


49  02 


NOMADS 

E  are  but  pilgrims;  and  the  skin 
That  covers  us,  the  tent  wherein, 
Awake  or  sleeping,  we  abide 
Till  death  a  dwelling-house  provide. 


W 


FINIS 

OTO  be  with  thee  sinking  to  thy  rest, 
Thy  journey  done; 
The  world  thou  leavest  blessing  thee  and  blest, 

O  setting  sun; 
The  clouds,  that  ne'er  the  morning  joys  forget, 

Again  aglow, 

And  leaf  and  flower  with  tears  of  twilight  wet 
To  see  thee  go. 


QUO  VADIS  ? 

THE  sedge  was  sere;  the  water  still, 
As  waiting  for  the  wintry  chill; 
When,  shadow-like  along  the  hill, 
She  moved  alone. 

The  owl,  upon  a  blasted  limb, 
From  sepulchres  of  silence  dim 
Made  charnel  echoes  mock  for  him 
Their  dying  moan. 

Upon  the  forehead  of  the  night 
The  moon,  foreboding  in  affright — 
A  film  of  solitary  light — 
Above  her  shone. 

What  meant  the  omen  of  the  bird? 
The  moon  with  blinding  vapours  blurred? 
What  in  her  heart  of  anguish  stirred 
The  stifled  groan  ? 


A  plunge,  a  ripple,  and  a  sigh 
Of  waters; — fleeting  soul,  reply, 
Was  it  for  death  of  Love  to  die, 
Or  to  atone? 


53 


LEAVES 

ALL  your  sylvan  prophecies 
But  a  phantom  sigh ! 
"  Yea,  we  listened  to  the  breeze 

Tempting  us  to  fly 
Like  the  summer  birds  and  bees 

From  the  branches  high: 
Now  beneath  our  naked  trees 

Shadowless  we  lie, 
In  the  autumn  mysteries 

Doomed,  alas,  to  die." 


54 


VICTIMS 

BEHOLD,  throughout  the  land, 
On  many  a  smoking  pyre 
The  maple-martyrs  stand 
Ablaze  in  autumn  fire. 

The  winds  are  hushed  in  prayer, 
Till,  falling  one  by  one, 

Dumbfounded  leaves  declare 
The  sacrifice  is  done. 


55 


FOG 

THE  ghost  am  I 
Of  winds  that  die 
Alike  on  land  or  sea, 
In  silence  deep 
To  shroud  and  keep 

Their  mournful  memory 

A  spirit  white 
I  stalk  the  night, 

Or,  shadowing  the  skies, 
Forbid  the  sun 
To  look  upon 

My  noonday  mysteries. 


NIGHTFALL 

NOW,  weary,  one  by  one  we  lay 
Aside  the  panoply  of  day; 
And,  like  to  little  children,  creep 
Defenceless,  to  the  arms  of  sleep. 

Our  heads  upon  her  bosom,  soon 
Forgotten  are  the  cares  of  noon, 
That,  shorn  of  shadows,  helpless  lie 
As  Samson  in  captivity. 


57 


CLIFFS 

FOR  ever  face  to  face, 
As  towered  of  old 
Within  the  Holy  Place 
The  wings  of  gold. 

One  heralding  the  day 
With  kindled  crest; 

One  reddened  with  the  ray 
That  fires  the  west. 

The  bosom-vale  between 

Alike  their  own; 
To  each  a  heaven  unseen, 

A  world  unknown. 


TO  THE  WHEATFIELD 

GIVE  us  this  day  our  daily  bread. 
"  Oh  wheat,"  the  wind,  in  passing,  said, 
"  'Tis  you  that  answer  everywhere 
This  call  of  Life's  incessant  prayer; 
Bow,  then,  in  reverence  your  head, 
For  'tis  the  Master's  gift  you  bear." 


59 


W 


THE  FORFEITURE 

HO  first  beneath  the  mistletoe 
On  Christmas  night  is  found, 
Must  pay  a  forfeiture,  we  know, 

To  them  that  stand  around. 
Approach,  ye  angel  choirs,  and  then 
Make  way  for  happier  sons  of  men. 


60 


HEREDITY 

I  DIED  at  sea;  and  homeward  bound, 
I  journey  half  the  world  around 
To  rest  where  native  dust  is  found. 

'Tis  strange,  if  dust  be  dust,  that  I 
E'en  now  to  dust  returning,  sigh 
As  dust  with  kindred  dust  to  lie. 

But  haply,  as  from  sire  to  son, 
From  son  to  sire  emotions  run 
That  make  the  lineal  current  one. 


61 


THE  BIRTHDAY 

ANOTHER  blossom  blooms  for  thee 
Upon  the  never-failing  Tree 
Of  Life — the  same  in  breath  and  hue 
As  was  the  first  that  drank  the  dew, 
When  God  within  His  garden  stood 
Alone,  and  found  it  "very  good." 

So  be  it,  when — thy  garden  done, 
And  all  thy  labours  one  by  one 
Recorded — thro*  the  twilight  dim 
He  comes  to  bid  thee  walk  with  Him 
Into  a  vaster  solitude, 
Thou  too  behold  it  very  good! 


62 


SICUT  IN  PRINCIPIO 

\  PENTECOSTAL  breath— 
/ILThe  wind  that  baffles  Death — 
Moves:  and  from  sterile  sand 
The  sea  brings  forth  the  Land, 
Out  of  whose  wounded  side 
All  life  is  satisfied. 


MEMORY 

I  GO  not  to  the  grave  to  weep, 
But  to  my  heart,  wherein  I  keep 
A  hidden  manna  that  hath  fed 
Alike  the  living  and  the  dead. 

We  gathered  it  as,  day  by  day, 
It  fell  from  heaven  upon  our  way, 
To  be,  if  haply  one  were  gone, 
The  bread  for  both  to  feed  upon. 


64 


RACERS 

THE  winds  from  many  a  cloudy  mane 
Shake  off  the  sweat  of  gathering  rain 

And  whicker  with  delight; 
No  slope  of  pasture-lands  they  need, 
Whereon  to  rest,  or  drink,  or  feed, 
Their  life  the  rapture  of  the  speed, 
The  frenzy  of  the  flight. 


65  E2 


T 


NOCHETRISTE 

HE  night  that  bore  me  to  my  dead, 
Along  the  dreary  way 
The  meadow-frogs  in  chorus  said, 

"We  sing  the  vanished  day; 
Think  not  that  life  is  all  with  you: 
Her  night  hath  stars  and  voices  too." 


66 


H 


CONSOLATION 

ENCEFORTH  alone  to  bear 
The  cross  thou  canst  not  share 

Is  sweet  to  me; 
For  'twas  the  heavier  part 
That  lay  upon  thy  heart 
Which  nowlis  free. 


UNIGENITUS 

FTER  the  man-child  morn, 
Of  night  no  babe  is  born : 
After  a  GOD,  no  room 
For  man  in  Mary's  womb. 


A 


68 


A  WIND-CALL 

DUST  thou  art,  and  unto  dust, 
Playfellow,  return  thou  must; 
Lingering  death  it  is  to  stay 
In  the  prison-house  of  clay — 
Bricks  of  Egypt,  year  by  year, 
Walling  up  a  sepulchre. 

Better  far  the  soul  to  free 
From  its  cold  captivity, 
And  with  us,  thy  comrades,  go 
Wheresoe'er  we  list  to  blow. 
Come,  for  soon  again  to  dust 
Playfellow,  return  thou  must. 


WITHDRAWN 

I  MISS  thee  everywhere. 
The  places  dear  to  thee, 
Familiar  shadows  wear 
Henceforth  for  memory. 

And  where  thou  hast  not  been, 
Thou  seemest  to  repose 

As  near — tho'  never  seen — 
As  fragrance  to  the  rose. 


70 


WRINKLES 

HIS,  biting  Frost — this,  branding  Sun — 
This,  Wind  or  drenching  Rain  hath  done: 

Each  perfecting  the  Sculptor's  plan 

Upon  the  godlike  image,  Man. 


T 


71 


DEATH 

I  PASSED  him  daily,  but  his  eyes, 
On  others  musing,  missed  me, 
Till  suddenly,  with  pale  surprise, 

He  caught,  &  clasped,  &  kissed  me. 
Since  then  his  long-averted  glance 
Is  fixed  upon  my  countenance. 


IN  AUTUMN 

NOW  that  the  birds  are  gone 
That  sang  the  summer  through, 
And  now  that,  one  by  one, 

The  leaves  are  going  too, 
Is  all  their  beauty  but  a  show 
To  fade  for  ever  when  they  go? 

Nay;  what  is  heard  and  seen, 

In  time  must  pass  away; 
But  Beauty,  born  within, — 

The  blossom  of  a  day — 
Unto  its  hiding  place  again 
Returns  for  ever  to  remain. 


73 


T 


THE  BREEZE 

HRO'  thee  the  ocean  knows 
The  fragrance  of  the  rose; 
And  inlands,  far  away, 
The  blossom  of  the  spray. 


Thro'  thee,  to  every  wave 
A  whisper  of  the  grave; 
And  to  each  grave  a  sigh 
Of  Life  that  cannot  die. 


74 


FULFILLED 

'^TTWYAS  August:  and  a  Gypsy  Breeze 

A    Came  wandering  thro'  the  wood. 
"  Our  fortunes ! "  cried  the  lover  Trees 
That  first  before  her  stood. 

"Sir  Hickory  the  king  shall  be 
Of  all  this  wide  demesne; 
And  you,"  she  added  tenderly, 
"Fair  Maple,  shall  be  queen." 

They  listened,  smiling  as  she  spoke, 

Nor  heeded  what  she  told, 
Till  came  the  morning  when  they  woke 

Arrayed  in  red  and  gold. 


75 


LOVE  IMMORTAL 

HE  soul  that  sees  no  hell  below, 

No  heaven  above, 
All  other  mysteries  may  know, 
But  never  Love. 


T 


If  from  the  prison-walls  of  Time 

No  life  may  fly, 
Then  Love  and  Innocence  and  Crime 

Alike  must  die. 


WINTER  RAIN 

RAIN  on  the  roof  and  rain 
On  the  burial-place  of  grain; 
To  one  a  voice  in  vain; 
To  one,  o'er  hill  and  plain 
The  pledge  of  life  again. 

Rain  on  the  sterile  sea, 
That  hath  no  need  of  thee, 
Nor  keeps  thy  memory — 
'Tis  thou  that  teachest  me 
The  range  of  charity. 


77 


THE  STAR  TO  THE  WATCHER 

FAREWELL !  I  may  not  meet  thee  till  the  day 
Hath  passed  away; 

But  in  the  bosom  of  the  noontide  sea, 
I  '11  dream  of  thee. 

Alike  are  we  the  votaries  of  Night; 

A  voice  hath  said, 
Let  there  for  other  worshippers  be  light, 

For  lovers,  shade. 


HARBOURS 

FULL  many  a  noonday  nook  I  know 
Where  memory  is  fain  to  go 
And  wait  in  silence  till  the  shade 
Of  sleep  the  solitude  invade. 

For  these  the  resting-places  are 
Of  dreams  that,  journeying  afar, 
Pause  in  their  migratory  flight 
This  side  the  continent  of  night. 


79 


ST  MARY  OF  EGYPT 

STRONG  to  suffer,  strong  to  sin, 
Loving  much,  and  much  forgiven, 
In  the  desert  realm  a  queen, 

Penance-crowned,  to  cope  with  Heaven, 
Solitude  alone  could  be 
Room  enough  for  GOD  and  thee. 

Long  the  vigil,  stern  the  fast; 

Morn,  with  night's  anointing,  chill; 
Noon  with  passion  overcast; 

Night  with  phantoms  fouler  still; 
Prayer  and  penitential  tears 
Battling  with  the  lust  of  years. 

Low  upon  the  parching  sand, 
Shrivelled  in  the  blight  of  day, 

As  beneath  a  throbbing  brand 
Prone  thy  ghastly  shadow  lay, 

Till  the  manacles  of  hell 

From  thy  fevered  spirit  fell. 


80 


Then,  O  Queen  of  Solitude! 

Silence  led  thee  as  a  bride, 
Clothed  anew  in  maidenhood, 

To  an  altar  purified, 
Lit  with  holy  fires,  to  prove 
Self  the  sacrifice  of  Love. 


8l  F2 


LIFE'S  GULF  STREAM 

STARS,  that  in  the  darkness  bloom 
Wither  in  the  light; 
Dreams,  begotten  of  the  gloom, 
Take  their  morning  flight. 

And,  the  gleam  of  fancy  gone, 
From  the  current  of  the  dawn 
Tidal  memories  are  drawn 
To  the  coast  of  Night. 


82 


THE  LIFE-GIVER 

HE  earth  to  us  her  bread 

Of  life  doth  give; 
And  we  to  her,  our  dead, 
That  they  may  live. 


T 


In  vain  the  vision  blest 
Of  Heaven  were  found, 

Did  Faith  no  ladder  rest 
Upon  the  ground. 


REVISITED 

A  LONELY  road  I  tread  again, 
As  once  with  Love's  companion,  Pain, 
Who  faltered,  "Love  is  fled." 

To-day,  a  shadow  not  mine  own 
Along  a  lonelier  path  is  thrown, 
That  tells  me  «  Pain  is  dead." 


84 


INSCRIPTIONS 

THE  epitaph  of  Night 
The  Sunbeams  write; 
The  epitaph  of  Day, 
The  Shadows  gray; 
One  requiem  of  Wind  &  Wave 
Above  each  grave. 


THE  GRAVE-DIGGER 

HERE  underneath  the  sod, 
Where  night  till  now  hath  been, 
With  every  lifted  clod 
I  let  the  sunshine  in. 

How  dark  soe'er  the  gloom 

Of  Death's  approaching  shade, 

The  first  within  the  tomb 
Is  light,  that  cannot  fade. 

And  from  the  deepest  grave 

I  banish  it  in  vain; 
For,  like  a  tidal  wave, 

Anon  'twill  come  again. 


T 


OUR  SECRET 

HE  interval 
We  both  recall, 
To  each  was  all. 


A  moment's  space, 
That  time  nor  place 
Can  e'er  efface. 

'Tis  all  our  own, 
A  secret  known 
To  us  alone. 

My  life  to  thee 
As  thine  to  me 
Eternity. 


THE  OLD  YEAR'S  BLESSING 

LIKE  Simeon  of  old, 
The  new-born  Babe  I  hold 
Upon  my  heart: 
According  to  thy  word, 
Let  now  thy  servant,  LORD, 
In  peace  depart. 


88 


T 


THE  TEST 

HE  dead  th  ere  are,  who  live; 
The  living,  who  are  dead: 
The  poor,  who  still  can  give; 

The  rich,  who  lack  for  bread; 
To  Love  it  is  and  Love  alone 
That  Life  or  Luxury  is  known. 


THE  SOUL'S  QUEST 

I  LAID  my  vesture  by 
Upon  this  spot, 
And  here  returning,  I 

Behold  it  not. 

Dost  thou,  O  earth,  resume 
The  relics  of  the  tomb  ? 

Whereto  the  Earth  replies: 

"  Be  not  afraid ; 
Safe  in  my  keeping  lies 

What  here  was  laid: 
A  thousand  forms  refine 
What  shall  again  be  thine." 


90 


TO  AN  AMATEUR 

LOVE  thy  violin: 
Let  thy  soul  therein 
Learn  the  unity 
Of  the  mystic  three, 
When  the  string  and  bow- 
Parted  lovers — meet, 
And  in  music  know 
Life  in  Love  complete. 


91 


T 


HIDDEN 

HE  sweetest  warblers — one  in  light, 

O          7 

And  one  in  darkness,  screened  from  sight- 
By  voice  alone  prevail; 

So  let  the  Poet  sing  his  song, 

As  far  secluded  from  the  throng 
As  Lark  or  Nightingale 


92 


THE  DAWN  STAR 

FEED  me,  O  morning,  till  the  ray 
That  love  hath  kindled  in  the  shade, 
Lost  in  the  satisfying  day 
Of  Light's  perfedlion,  fade. 


93 


NEIGHBOUR 

FULL  many  a  heedless  fellow-man 
Had  passed  him  on  the  way, 
But  Night,  the  Good  Samaritan, 

Beholding  where  he  lay, 
Upbore  him  to  the  Inn  of  Sleep, 

And  there  I  heard  him  say, 
Whate'er  the  charges  of  his  keep, 
O  Landlord,  I  '11  repay. 


94 


TEARS 

UT  of  the  deep  are  we, 
Out  of  that  inland  sea 
Whereof  the  briny  wave 
Beats  to  the  yawning  grave. 


O 


95 


TWO  EASTER  LILIES 

BEHOLD  the  reed  of  scorn, 
Like  Aaron's  rod, 
Hath  blossomed  to  adorn 
The  risen  GOD. 

And  she,  the  broken  bloom 
That  balmed  His  feet, 

Is  first  before  His  tomb, 
Her  LORD  to  greet. 


ANIMULA  VAGA 

DO  quickly  what  thou  hast  to  do; 
For,  till  to  dust  again, 
O  coffin-worm,  the  temple  fall, 
A  fledgling  I  remain. 

Nay;  till  the  utmost  particle 
Another  form  hath  found, 

Tho'  plumed  for  the  empyrean, 
I  flutter  near  the  ground. 


97 


INFLUENCES 

EACH  separate  life  is  fed 
From  many  a  fountain-head: 
Tides  that  we  never  know 
Into  our  being  flow, 
And  rays  of  the  remotest  star 
Converge  to  make  us  what  we  are. 


AT  THE  LAST 

EFTLE  squirrel  in  the  tree, 
Faithless  other  friends  to  me, 
Therefore  to  the  birds  and  thee 
Have  I  come. 

Men  have  reason;  ye  have  love 
— Gift  all  other  gifts  above — 
Proving  what,  alas,  to  prove 
They  are  dumb. 


99 


THE  DIAL 

/t    DREAMER  in  the  dark,  I  grow 
./""^Prophetic  in  the  morning  glow; 
Thereon  a  slender  shade  I  throw — 
A  sign  in  Babylon  to  say 
"Thou'rt  in  the  balance  weighed,  O  Day, 
Found  wanting,  and  shalt  waste  away." 
And  now  in  Night's  pavilion,  all 
The  stars  are  writing  on  the  wall, 
"Behold,  thy  kingdom  too  must  fall." 


100 


T 


BREAKERS 

IS  well  the  dimples  sweet 
To  kiss  away — 
Fhe  marks  of  little  feet 
That  love  the  spray; 


For,  once  the  children  gone, 

'Twere  mockery 
The  vestiges  upon 
The  sand  to  see. 


101 


D 


HER  PILOT 

EATH  seemed  afraid  to  wake  her; 
For,  traversing  the  deep, 
When  home  he  came  to  take  her, 
He  kept  her  fast  asleep. 


And,  haply,  from  her  dreaming 

Of  many  a  risk  to  run 
She  woke,  with  rapture  beaming, 

To  find  her  voyage  done. 


102 


T 


SURVIVAL 

HE  tempest  past — 


A  home  in  ruin  laid; 
Butlo!  where  last 

The  little  children  played 
At  hide-and-seek, 
A  footprint  small 
Pleads  silently, 
As  if  afraid  to  speak. 
"  Behold  in  me 
A  memory, 
The  least  &  last  of  all!" 


103 


\ 

THE  HAUNTED  MOON 

STILL  closer  doth  she  cowl  with  night 
Her  visage  white, 
To  hide  her  from  the  spectre  grey 

Of  yesterday — 

Deep  buried  in  his  sepulchre 

To  all  but  her. 


104 


ON  HIS  BLINDNESS 


FIAT  LUX 

"/^  IVE  us  this  day  our  daily  bread,"  and  light. 
VjFor  more  to  me,  O  LORD,  than  food  is  sight : 

And  I  at  noon  have  been 
In  twilight,  where  my  fellow-men  were  seen 

"As  trees"  that  walked  before  me.  E'en  to-day 
From  time  to  time  there  falls  upon  my  way 

A  feather  of  the  darkness.  But  again 
It  passes;  and  amid  the  falling  rain 

Of  tears,  I  lift,  O  LORD,  mine  eyes  to  Thee, 
For,  lo !  I  see! 


106 


GOING  BLIND 

BACK  to  the  primal  gloom 
Where  life  began, 
As  to  my  mother's  womb 
Must  I  a  man 

Return: 
Not  to  be  born  again, 

But  to  remain: 
And  in  the  School  of  Darkness  learn 

What  mean 
"The  things  unseen." 


107 


A 


BLIND 

GAIN  as  in  the  desert  way, 
Behold  my  guides — a  cloud  by  day, 

A  flame  by  night: 

For  darkness  wakens  with  the  morn, 
But  dreams,  of  midnight  slumber  born, 
Bring  back  the  light. 


108 


MAMMY* 

1  LOVED  her  countenance  whereon, 
Despite  the  longest  day, 
The  tenderness  of  visions  gone 

In  shadow  seemed  to  stay. 
And  now,  when  faithless  sight  is  fled 

Beyond  my  waking  gaze, 
Of  darkness  I  am  not  afraid, — 
It  is  my  Mammy's  face. 

*  This  is  the  American  Southern  child's  name  for  the  negro 


IN  BLINDNESS 

FOR  me  her  life  to  consecrate, 
My  Lady  Light 

Within  her  shadowy  convent  gate 
Is  lost  to  sight. 

I  may  not  greet  her;  but  a  grace — 

A  gleam  divine — 
The  rapture  of  her  hidden  face 

Suffuses  mine. 


no 


IN  TENEBRIS 

HE  dawn  to  ours  is  dusk  to  other  eyes; 

And,  light  away, 
Our  stars  returning  to  their  native  skies 
Forget  the  day. 


T 


If  then,  some  life  be  brighter  for  the  shade 

That  darkens  mine, 
To  both,  O  LORD,  more  manifest  be  made 

The  light  divine. 


in 


PROXIMITY 

HE  day  is  nearer  to  the  night 
Than  to  another  day: 
If  closer  to  the  living  Light, 
In  darkness  let  me  stay. 


T 


I  12 


BENIGHTED 

HER  mistress  would  not  have  her  stay; 
And  so  the  fair  hand-maiden,  Day — 
My  Hagar — banished  from  my  sight, 
Has  left  me  to  her  rival,  Night. 

But  still  she  lingers  in  the  glow 
Of  life  above  us  and  below : 
The  stars  my  Sarah's  progeny; 
My  Hagar 's,  sands  beside  the  sea. 


113  H2 


OUR  STARS 

MY  twilight  is  before  the  dark, 
And  thine  before  the  day; 
O'er  both  alike  a  beacon-spark 

To  keep  us  in  the  way. 
The  darkness  can  but  brighten  mine; 
Let  not  the  noon  extinguish  thine. 


114 


THE  SMITER 

THEY  bound  Thine  eyes, &  questioned, "Tell  us  now 
Who  smote  Thee."  Thou  wast  silent.  When  to-day 
Mine  eyes  are  holden,  and  again  they  say, 
"Who  smote  Thee? "  LORD,  I  tell  them  it  is  Thou. 


Permission  has  been  kindly  granted 
to  reprint  such  of  the  poems  in  the 
present  volume  as  were  originally 
published  in  the  following  maga 
zines:  "The  Atlantic  Monthly," 
"Cosmoplitan  Magazine,"  "Har 
per's  Magazine,"  and  "Youth's 
Companion." 


LETCHWORTH  I  AT  THE  ARDEN  PRESS. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 

Fine  schedule:  25  cents  on  first  day  overdue 

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One  dollar  tjn  seventri  day  overdue. 


REC'D  LD 

APR  1  0  1958 


M204798 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


